September 28th, 1998
Never Happened To Me?
The 'moment of truth' has come. You are exhilarated
and a bit nervous. Your pulse has quickened, respiration is up, your
eyes are already searching the surface of the water for signs of activity.
Your waders and vest are on, everything checked, and you are stringing
up your fly rod.
An almost giddy attitude has taken over. You
placed the reel on the ground and made the little loop of fly line to
poke up thru the guides. All is well; You have done this a thousand
times. The loop of fly line emerges from the tip-top, you pull it straight
out until your excited fingers have the leader, and then, right at that exact
point you break your fly rod. Wow; what happened? Must have been
defective, maybe I hit it with the fly sometime past. You are in shock,
and you should be; you have just screwed up big-time!
Has never happened to you? Probably not; yet!
It can, and may. So what went wrong? At the exact moment the leader
came out, you,( instead of pulling straight in line with the rod), brought the
leader out in a big swinging loop. As the line-to-leader knot caught only
briefly on a guide, you blew the tip of you fly rod. Sometimes a loop will
form in the fly line as it is running up thru the guides. That will do it too.
Not a nice thing to have happen; makes a sickening sound. Can spoil
your whole day.
Recently I watched many guys stringing rods at
a dealers show in Salt Lake City, UT. It was rare indeed to see anyone
remember to pull the leader straight out too. But, I did see some who
did it right. Everyone I saw was a manufacturer, not a dealer. Perhaps
you always do it the right way, if so, then this is not for you. If not,
however, try to remember to pull the leader straight out too.
And, please don't embarrass me by asking
how do I know this can happen. ~ JC
Till next week, remember ... |